Honey, I'm standing in water

or Where did all this water come from???

(June 16, 2017)

We started our summer break, with a mini-break, not far from home. I still had to work, this week for a few days, so it was decided we would camp near my work so we could use up a few more nights at the Encore camping resort we got as new owners of the coach. We spent a few days in Bradenton, during the week, and on Thursday the 15th, we packed up and headed down to Venice Florida. 

We arrived at the Royal Coachman RV park, in no time, and began setting up the trailer. FYI, the Royal Coachman park is fantastic. It's big, it's clean, it has a huge pool, and cabana area complete with palm frond covered Tiki huts. The grounds are carefully maintained, and the facilities are excellent. The annual residents keep their equipment clean and in good repair. I did't see any broken down units, or for lack of better words, "Trailer Trash".

As we connected our coach, I realized I had forgotten to open the grey water tank like we usually do. I made a mental note to come back and open it later when we were all done. The Florida heat and humidity usually takes its toll on me, so I'm dripping with sweat. I step inside to cool down and relax, figuring I can get the other stuff done shortly. 

As the afternoon progressed, we decided it was time to head over and check out the nice pool. So we donned our swim attire, and drove over. We set our things at an umbrella table, and got into the nice cool water. It was the perfect temperature too, not too cold and not warm. We splashed about for 30-45 min, and then we decided to head back and have dinner and turn in for the evening.

We had a great dinner, watched some Netflix movies and turned in for the evening. As we bedded down, I forgot to take my medicine so I got up, went to the kitchen and got a glass of water to wash down the pill. With that taken care of we drifted off to sleep. Some time around 11pm my wife awoke to use the restroom, when she exclaimed "Honey, I'm standing in water!" I replied "WHAT!"  I looked at the tank monitor and saw the gray water tank full light flashing and then it hit me, I forgot to open the gray water tank! I bolted outside, and opened the tank, water gushed out the tank and through the hose into the sewer. I was still partly asleep and wondered how the grey water tank got filled up??? As I got back into the coach, I realized I had left the sink water running after I took my medicine. And with the grey water tank closed, it filled up and flowed into the tub, over the sides, and into our bedroom. We grabbed all the dry clothes we could, some towels and t-shirts and mopped up the water the best we could. Once dried up, my wife headed back to sleep, while I, in my excited state, needed some time to process what had happened. I posted our mistake on Facebook, and a friend replied that I should get a dehumidifier to dry up some of the water that may have seeped into the flooring. 

The next morning I called the local Home Depot and they had an industrial dehumidifier that I could rent for 50$ for the day, so I picked it up and brought it back to the coach. I turned off the AC and turned on the dehumidifier, and pointed the fan into our bedroom. It got hot in the coach quickly, so we decided to spend the day out checking out the sights. We bounced around Venice beach for a while and headed back 6 hours later. We got back to the now extremely warm coach, and hoped that it did the trick. I returned the equipment and when we got back to the still warmish trailer we headed out to the pool again for an evening swim. 

Later that evening, as I browsed through the Inter Webs I came across a website, that had 10 great tips for New RV Owners. One of the items was a white board, that was posted near the door. Another tip was to communicate with your camping party so everyone knows whats going on. We got a white board put up in the kitchen (no room near the door for it) and we started putting notes on it right away. We are still working on the communication. For now we have decided, That I would do the outside and my loving wife would do the inside. Except for the hookup and disconnecting of the tow vehicle from the trailer.

After our stay ended, we packed up and headed home. We got hooked up and left the wonderful RV Resort, the Royal Coachman, and vowed to come back another time. We pulled up to our home, emptied out the fridge, and I fixed the door latch plate to the bathroom, It was off center and would not allow the bathroom door to latch properly without lifting the door slightly. 

Once emptied we took the trailer to our storage location and dropped it off. We secured it, disconnected the battery and headed home to do laundry and get ready for another week at work before our real summer break begins.

P.S. We have learned a bunch of new things about RV Living, but we still have much more to learn. One of my biggest failures is to communicate with my spouse and not get upset about anything when setting up or tearing down our campsite. I believe most of my issue is with the amount of heat and sweat my body produces when engaged in physical activity. The humidity of Florida in the Hot summer sun also adds to the effect. It causes me to blow up at the slightest thing, and for that I feel like hell when I blow up at my loving wife. I hope she will forgive me one day. Better yet, I hope I can find away to calm myself during these times, because she does not deserve the wrath, I unintentionally dish out. 

Enjoy life, Enjoy the outdoors and Camp

Joy and George O.